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"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire

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Constance963
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"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire

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Since some of us expressed interest in discussing Wicked even though it has been axed, I thought I might get the ball rolling and start a discussion thread.

Just to get things started, those of us who have read the book or even seen the Broadway show, how do you feel about Elphaba? Was she born wicked? Did she become wicked? Was she in fact, not wicked at all but was simply misunderstood?
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Chris OConnor

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This is a great idea, Constance. :) If you can stir up some interest in this book it can go back up top as an official selection for one of the upcoming fiction book discussion periods.
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Chris OConnor

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And from the type of questions I see you asking I believe you'd make a great discussion leader for Wicked. :)
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Thanks for getting things going, Constance.

I've only read the first 57 pages (the last chapter being "Geography of the Seen and Unseen) , but of course I'll carry on.
Due to some unfortunate gap in my education, I know absolutely nothing about films or shows. ;-)

So, it will take me a while to catch up and be able to answer your question, and I have no topic suggestions of my own for the moment.

Now if you or anybody else could suggest a discussion topic for something in pages 1 to 56 I'd be happy to join you.
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Constance963
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Thanks Chris, I'll do my best.

Ophelia, since you are just starting how about the question of religion which I believe is raised immediately in the novel. The author brings up the religions Unionist, Paganism, and Pleasure Faith. Elphaba's father Frex is a minister who believes in the Unnamed God, names his daughter after a saint, and yet his daughter is then born green. Do you feel that the author is making a relation between religious beliefs and punishment? What kind of foreshadowing do you feel is being set up for the rest of the novel?
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Very good suggestion Constance.
From a literary point of view, this is something which attracted my attention immediately as I thought the style was such a delight. :) I'll go back and read this again.

Now, the details of your question brings me to another of those gaps in my education: to me religion means "Catholics", "Protestants" "Muslims", and all subtleties are lost on people like me, but this is a challenge, I'll go for it.
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Constance:

I would normally not post this here but I went back to your intro and... at last I found somebody on this forum who mentioned Harry Potter.

So this is my chance to state publicly that I LOVE Harry Potter. I found that reading the whole series backwards (7 to 1) or at random also worked very well.
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Constance963
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Maybe we can start a Harry Potter thread Ophelia ;-)

Oh, and I initially directed the religion question to Ophelia but it can go out to anyone who has read the novel or the first few chapters :D
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I really enjoyed the musical version of Wicked, which I saw in San Francisco last year. When I tried reading the novel, I gave up after a couple of pages, but I didn't give it much of a chance.

The whole point of the musical was that Elphaba wasn't really wicked. Wicked was a revisionist take on The Wizard of Oz, in which the "Wicked Witch of the West" was a somewhat heroic figure fighting a corrupt and flawed system. The main theme was that good and evil are subjective, and that people don't conform to the simplistic black-and-white view of The Wizard of Oz, a mentality that comes up far too often in the real world.
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Constance wrote:
The author brings up the religions Unionist, Paganism, and Pleasure Faith. Elphaba's father Frex is a minister who believes in the Unnamed God, names his daughter after a saint, and yet his daughter is then born green.
I'll start with definitions:

1- paganism:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism

2- I suppose "Pleasure Faith" is an invention? Is it based on any real movement?

3- "Unionist" drew a blank. Help?

4- Elphaba: what's the name of the saint?
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